JULI & STUART WELCOME YOU
TO THE BEST CAVE DIVING AREA
IN EUROPE.
The Lot and The Dordogne areas of France have an abundance of beautiful caves suitable for all levels of diving expertise, situated in glorious rural locations. Sites are mostly found on three rivers; The Dordogne, The Lot and Cele.
The Lot area lies in the northern extremity of the Midi-Pyrenees region, which stretches from the confines of the Dordogne Valley to the highest peaks of the Pyrenees, forming
the heart of South-West France. Summer months temperatures can reach a high of 35+ degrees and are very dry, although it is not unusual to witness dramatic thunderstorms.
Cave divers from all over the world return to dive here year after year. We aim to make
your visit an experience you will want to repeat.
Many instructors, divers and friends have contributed to this site for which we are extremely grateful.
The Caves and Courses.
You have the opportunity to dive in ‘the best diving area in Europe’ and one of the best areas in the world. There is a wide variety of dive sites, ideal for the new diver on a course with an instructor, moving up to other sites for the more experienced diver. There are at least 28 local dive sites, here are a few and the villages/town they are located in:-
COMBE NEGRE - Lanzac SOURCE DE LANDENOUSE - Cadrieu
TROU MADAME - Cenevieres OEIL DE LA DOUE - Martel
LE GOUFFRE DE CABOUY - Rocamadour FONTAINE DE TRUFFE - Lacave
EMERGENCE DU RESSEL - Marcilhac-sur-Cele SOURCE DE ST-SAUVER - Cales
GOUFFRE DE LANTOUY - Saint Jean de Laur
Courses.
If you would like to attend a course, we at the ‘Lot Cave Diving Centre’
wi’ll put you in contact with qualified and very experienced diving
instructors, who have dived in these wonderful sites time and time
again.
Books to buy.
At the Dive Centre we keep in stock :-
UNDERWATER GUIDE TO THE LOT & DORDOGNE FRANCE
by Andrew Ward. This gives you an excellent coverage of caves,
locations, directions and diagrams.
THE DARKNESS BECKONS by Martyn Farr. A great in-depth
account of Martyns diving experience and a must read.
DIVING IN DARKNESS by Martyn Farr.
Filling Station
Air - A Bauer Mariner compressor supplies the air to 5 banks of 3 to 4 50L ‘J’s, which are refilled while you spend the day diving.
PLEASE NOTE : We are a ‘self-fill’ station and do not fill your bottles for you.
We keep stock of Helium and Oxygen. If you intend to use large quantities of gases these will need to be ordered 3 weeks prior to your stay. We take air purity seriously and all air is passed through a secondary filter.
Gas Prices
AIR : per compressor minute 0.366 Euros
or, 22.00 Euros / hour compressor time
OXYGEN : per litre 0.036 € or - Pre order price 112€ p/bottle
HELIUM : per litre 0.045 € or - Pre order price 165€ p/bottle
Workshop - There is a small workshop at the back of the filling station with tools, work bench, computer with a blending programme, digital gauge, oxygen meter, ropes, first aid kit, spare seals, hose clips etc. for your use.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION - BLENDING CERTIFICATES:
If you intend to blend gases on site, we require a valid blending certificate.
Emergency Information
In France, the police or gendarmerie are responsible for cave rescue and should be your first point of contact. The number for any emergency service such as police, fire and medical is 112. They have English speaking operators who will contact the relevant emergency services and if needed organize a helicopter to take the injured person to a decompression chamber or hospital.
Prevention is better than cure.
Call 112 or 080012113
Tell them you are involved in a cave diving incident 'accident de speleologie’ , have ready the name of your dive site, accurate directions or GPS
co-ordinates and explain the situation.
The Lot Cave Diving Centre
La Forge, 46310 Pont de Rhodes, France.
From the A20 motorway exit at junction 56 and take the road towards Frayssinet and St Germain du Bel Air, follow this for approx 6km’s. At the cross road with the RN20 turn left and you are immediately in Pont de Rhodes. Pass the campsite on your right,
we are situated immediately after the right hand junction opposite the hotel. You may use this
car park.
Accommodation
When booking accommodation through the
‘Lot Cave Diving Centre’
you have gas and air bottles allocated to you at the Filling Station.
We have a good varied selection of properties & gites to offer you, and all are used to accommodating diving groups. These are just a selection of local properties that are on offer to you, they all are very well equipped with kitchens, heating, comfortable beds, bed linen and house towels and most importantly enough space for storing your diving equipment. Prices vary depending on the type
of accommodation, number of people and the season on which
you would like to book.
Please contact us telling us your requirements and we will be happy to offer quotations on available properties that match
your requests.
Meal and Food Availability.
We understand that time spent diving is more appealing to you
than using your time organising food! Let us help you use your
time resourcefully and have a look at our food options available:
Arrival breakfast boxes.
This will be adequate for the no’ of people in your party for the
first couple of days.
e.g. Bread, Croissants, Jam, Milk, Coffee, Tea etc.
Price = 4.00 Euros per person
Lunches.
These are to be collected by yourself, either the evening before,
when re-filling at the Air Station, or the morning of your dive.
e.g. Baguette, Fruit, Cereal bar, Crisps, Drink etc.
Price = 6.00 Euros per person.
Evening Meals.
At the Air Station you may have the chance to meet with
other divers from the area. This is weather permitting in the
Summer months.
e.g. Entrée, BBQ, Pasta, Salad, Desert, Wine or Beer etc.
Price = 19.50 Euros per person.
We ask you to give us as much notice as possible for
arranging any food requests. Please also advise us on
any dietary needs.
Testimonials
The Lot Cave Diving Centre is the perfect venue for divers visiting the wonderful cave sites of the Lot and Dordogne valleys. Life is made very easy for a newcomer as the Dive Centre can arrange just about everything, including accommodation, and fantastic evening meals for those who don’t wish to cook. The air station is available at times to suit you, including access to oxygen and helium. We’ve taken groups to the LCD Centre for some years and never been disappointed… you wont be either! Juli and Stuart are the perfect hosts..... Martyn Farr - Side Mount Techniques, PSA Cavern & Cave Instructor.
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I cannot miss this great and attractive site for cave diving, which is known as the TOP1 in Europe. Because I am a ‘Diving Instructor’ this is the locality I choose to bring my courses. In the year 2010 there has been significant changes as unfortunately Lynne left us in 2009. I liased with the new owners of the ‘LCD Centre’ and as all my previous visits I booked my accommodation through them, along with allocating our Air banks in the ‘Air Station’. Upon arrival I found excellent, pleasant and very courteous people, Juli and Stuart Timms. Facilities at the ‘Centre’ have not changed even after the change of ownership and is more freely available than before. This equipment is fully sufficient to demanding technical cave diving and exceeds the needs of the common cave diver. Divers will find as before the stocks of Helium and Oxygen and a Compressor. The Compressor however we did not need to use once, because the owners offered a perfect service and we had always available the full 50lt bottles of air. It was a very streamlined logistics which saved us time. We drove each day to a new site throughout the week in April, visibility was fantastic and optimal water status, we was also issued great weather. This year we fully enjoyed our trip and we are back this Autumn again..... Peter Kubicka Instructor Trainer IANTD for technical diving, DIR-Team Slovakia.
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As a professional Cave and Technical diving instructor specialising in CCR training it is important to me to have a good local infrastructure to support logistics where ever I travel to teach. The LCD Centre provides this for me when teaching both O/C and CCR Cave classes in this wonderful cave diving region. The Lot region is an area of some outstanding phreatic caves, most of which are springs and offer exceptional visibility and natural geological beauty. The centre offer air banks and compressor to 300 bar and Oxygen and Helium to order as well as arranging local accommodation local to the centre in rented houses and chalets. They can also arrange lunches and evening barbecues during your stay. Using the efficient, friendly and centrally located service offered by Stuart and Juli at the LCD Centre makes it easier for me to concentrate on the important part of my job, teaching.I would recommend them to any traveling Cave Instructors or Cave divers without hesitation...... Phil Short - IANTD/NSS-CDS Open & Closed Circuit Cave Instructor Trainer, IANTD Advanced Cave Instructor.
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Hello dear Cave Divers, Great job to dive in the most important cave diving area in Europe. To all of you I can recommend the
‘LCD Centre’ in Pont de Rhodes and owners Juli and Stuart Timms. The Filling Station is equipped with 50ltr industrial Air tanks, in five separate sections, Argon, Helium and Oxygen are available to order. All services are very professional also the hospitality of this couple. My best recommendation, Regards to you all...... David Skumal M.D. IANTD Instructor Trainer for Technical Cave, Trimix & Nitrox. Instructor CMAS, IWD, Czech Speleological Society.
